Vice President Mike Pence refused to acknowledge the value of black lives during a recent interview about George Floyd, police brutality, and Juneteenth.
According to CNN, when Pence was pressed to say the term during an interview with an ABC affiliate in Pennsylvania on Friday, he refused, instead saying, “All Lives Matter.”
“Let me just say that what happened to George Floyd was a tragedy,” Pence told 6ABC Action News in Philadelphia. “And in this nation, especially on Juneteenth, we celebrate the fact that from the founding of this nation we’ve cherished the ideal that all, all of us are created equal, and endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights. And so all lives matter in a very real sense.”
The term All Lives Matter is a rebuttal to Black Lives Matter meant to downplay or ignore the health, economic, and racial issues African Americans face every day.
Anchor Brian Taft continued to push Pence on the situation.
“Forgive me for pressing you on this, sir,” Taff said to Pence, “but I will note you did not say those words, ‘Black Lives Matter,’
and there is an important distinction. People are saying, of course all lives matter, but to say the words is an acknowledgment that Black lives also matter at a time in this country when it appears that there’s a segment of our society that doesn’t agree. So why will you not say those words?”
Again, Pence danced around the question.
“Well, I don’t accept the fact, Brian, that there’s a segment of American society that disagrees, in the preciousness and importance of every human life,” Pence said. “And it’s one of the reasons why as we advance important reforms in law enforcement, as we look for ways to strengthen and improve our public safety in our cities, that we’re not going to stop there.”
Pence went on to tout the Black unemployment rate pre-pandemic and said the Trump the administration is “absolutely determined to improve” the lives of African Americans.
“And yet, one final time, you won’t say the words and we understand your explanation,” Taff responded.
Watch the interview below.